Harder Than You Think
by Somber Secrets
Summary: Gajeel has to steel himself for his next task and boy is it so much harder than it should be… and yet it's a must if Levy is to ever forgive him or if he's ever to forgive himself. GaLe


Harder Than You Think

Premise: Gajeel has to steel himself for his next task and boy is it so much harder than it should be… and yet it's a must if Levy is to ever forgive him or if he's ever to forgive himself. GaLe

* * *

"Gajeel, you are such an… such an… idiot!" Levy screamed.

Automatically Gajeel raised his arms up in defence waiting for Levy to once again turn a particularly non threatening object into a weapon of mass destruction (script, purses, books, etc.) not caring that this was usually the action of a total coward. It wasn't like he could really fight back against the bookworm anyways… well at least without a swarm of S-class mages jumping on his ass and the want to kick himself as well.

Where did she get all of these allies anyways? Why didn't he have any? Maybe it had to do with the fact that he wasn't even his own ally.

Stupidly charming bookworm that little blue shrimp was.

Nothing hit Gajeel of course, even Levy had enough pride not to smack a coward, but by the time that Gajeel's arms had dropped the girl was already stomping her way out of the guild.

"Smooth," the stripper grinned as he loosened his shirt and began to unbutton it.

"What the fuck did I do?"

"Nothing," the bunny girl giggled with a hint of evil irony.

"Why did she just… what the hell!" Gajeel growled.

Next thing Gajeel knew, a book had planted itself into his nose and it was confirmed that only Levy could turn one of those things into an actual threat. Interesting considering how much damage the bunny girl did to the stupid Salamander on a daily basis. "You did nothing you jackass!" Lucy roared as she marched up to Gajeel and stomped on his foot.

Gajeel blinked down at the blonde girl owlishly; did she just do what he thought she had just done?

Lucy sneered at him as her brown eyes flickered behind him. Gajeel turned his head slowly and got his answer. "Ahh… fuck…" He knew there had to have been a reason for the bunny girl to be so bold…

Back up…

Evil demon like back up…

In the form of one barmaid and one Titania…

Gajeel gulped, "Oi Lily!"

"Take care of it yourself dufus," Lily muttered as he continued to sharpen his sword as Wendy watched him in utter awe.

"Did I not warn you that if you ever…" Erza began to mutter as a sword ex-quipped into her hand.

"I didn't do anything!"

Lucy stomped on his foot again and Gajeel resisted the urge to knock her head off. This was Levy's best friend, he had to remind himself… if she was mad at him now… he did not want to know what she would do to him if he beheaded the bunny girl on a whim. Oh… then again if he beheaded the bunny girl, Gajeel didn't think he's live to be able to see Levy ever again.

The thought irked him in too many ways.

"Fuck this shit! Tell me what the hell I did wrong!"

"You did nothing Gajeel," Mirajane twittered as she tipped her head to the side.

Gajeel closed his eyes so as to not shiver from fear. He had turned into a wussy puss. Granted, the two girls in front of him probably could beat him down to the bottom layer of hell within two minutes, but when had he ever showed the fact that this irked him?

Not before being with Levy…

Why did he…_feel _for her again?

Right… because she was _Levy_.

And Levy was… _is_ everything.

"Someone who speaks woman talk, translate this bullshit!" Gajeel growled loudly.

"You're an asshole," Natsu grinned as he bit into his fire food with gusto.

"Go fuck yourself Salamander."

"Ohh… moody," Natsu replied with a hardy laugh.

"Nevermind, go fuck bunny girl."

"I resent that," Lucy muttered.

"Seriously, just translate for me. What the hell did I do wrong? It wasn't like a pushed the little shorty away."

"Little shorty is repetitive."

"Fuck off."

"Get better vocabulary."

"Don't tell me what to fucking do."

"It might impress Levy," Lucy grinned.

Gajeel's nose scrunched for a moment before he shook his head, "Translate!"

"Hug her back you dumb ass," Gray muttered as he sat on a tavern table clad only in his boxers.

Gajeel glared at him, "Say what?"

"Hug her back. She clings onto you like a tick…"

"Levy's cuter than a tick Gray," Lucy grumbled.

"Like a bed bug then…"

"Oh whatever," Lucy sighed.

"Point is…"

"Hug her back," Mirajane twittered.

"Do you have a bet on this shit?" Gajeel asked.

"Duh!" Cana shouted from across the room.

"Bullshit, I won't fucking do it."

"Then I am afraid I will have to skin you alive," Erza sighed as another sword ex-quipped into her other hand.

"Oi, oi, oi! I don't fucking hug people."

"She's your bloody girlfriend!" Lucy shrieked, "You were even the one who asked her out, how can you say that you can't hug her!"

Gajeel went silent for a bit.

Mirajane growled, Cana cackled. "I told you the truth would be revealed!" the drunken card mage howled, "This is why you spy on people, so that proper information is retrieved. Give me back my money Mirajane! I told you Gajeel didn't have the balls to confess first!"

"Oi!"

"Gajeel," Mirajane sang as she flicked a bag of money to Cana, "Hug her or I'm going to do much more than just skin you."

Gajeel shivered again before he bravely (albeit slightly suicidally) gritted out from between his teeth, "I don't fucking hug people."

"You hug Lily," Natsu pointed out simply because he enjoyed being the bane of Gajeel's existence. It was bloody fun!

"Is Lily a people?"

"How does Levy stand you?" Lucy sighed.

"How do you stand the Salamander?"

"Touché."

"Hug her…" Mirajane growled, "Bet or no bets, you two have been going out for a month now and the fact that she still hugs you when all you do is stand there like a dumb bear…"

"Dragon," Gajeel muttered weakly.

Mirajane rolled her eyes, all patience lost on her now that her bet totally had just flopped because Gajeel was more of a wuss than she had thought, and amended, "…there like a dumb dragon means that you should count your lucky stars."

"I count my lucky fucking stars every day," Gajeel grounded out.

"Then hug her!"

"I don't hug people!"

"Alright then," Mirajane smiled as she calmed down and an innocent smile replaced her frightening one. Gajeel began to sweat. "Don't hug Levy. Tomorrow she might take a mission without telling you… a dangerous mission…"

Gajeel gulped.

"Oh or even better, she might just find a mission with a deliciously intelligent, smart, capable guy who doesn't mind dishing out hugs and even if she doesn't want to she might… might just wonder why she is still with you and before you know it… Levy and mysterious perfect boy will be riding off into the sunset with a—"

"STOP! STOP!" Gajeel shouted, having heard more than enough. Mirajane seriously knew what nightmares were made of. "I'll go find her."

"Good riddance," Lucy muttered, "One less idiot in the world."

"Learning how to hug isn't going to fix him," Gray muttered.

"Ah, it's a step closer."

"All of you need to fuck off," Gajeel growled as he stomped out of the guild and to where he knew where Levy would be fuming.

He was right of course, because at the end of it all, he still knew Levy the best.

"Oi, shorty!"

Levy huffed as she crossed her arms and refused to look at him.

Gajeel rubbed the back of his neck as he sighed and rolled his eyes to the sky, "Bookworm…"

"Gajeel is an idiot…" Levy murmured as she began to take a step away.

"Oi… don't walk away."

"I am stomping away."

"Don't stomp away…"

Levy continued down the canal wall as Gajeel trailed behind her still not knowing how to hug the girl.

It wasn't that he didn't want to hug the girl.

Bloody hell did he want to hug the girl… but she was so small… and all Gajeel had ever done with his arms was crush… not caress and he was scared, scared out of his fucking mind that he wouldn't know when to stop.

It didn't help that the first time he had met her… in those haunting memories… he really had had the intention to...

"Oi… Levy…"

Levy paused as her bottom lip stuck out in a small pout, "You know how much I like it when you use my name…"

"I know…"

"Gajeel…" Levy turned around and stared at the man as he simply looked back at her.

Levy knew that she was actually the one being stupid. Everything about Gajeel screamed out the fact that he cared about her. She knew why he didn't want to hug her… but she couldn't stop the unspeakable want, the need to have him hold her.

"Bookworm…"

"Levy. L-E-V-Y."

Gajeel rolled his eyes and grinned before he opened his arms. Levy sighed as she brushed her hair out of her eyes and hopped off the ledge. She slowly placed herself into the span of his arms and hugged his waist like she usually did. With her ear pressed against his chest, she could hear the beat of his heart. She could hear the love that he had for her.

Gajeel… though wanting to finally hug her back found that he still couldn't, still wouldn't as his hands dropped to his side and he tilted his head down so that his chin touched his collarbone to stare at her mop of blue hair.

Levy sighed, "Sorry for calling you stupid Gajeel."

"Sorry that I'm such a messed up freak."

"Don't call yourself that."

Gajeel laughed his signature laugh, "Hey, everyone in this dumb guild are messed up freaks."

"You mean the fact that they're spying on us from the alley way?"

"So fucking much more messed up than that…"

Levy giggled, "I love them." Gajeel grunted. "Hey… we'll work on this okay?"

"Yeah…"

"Someday you won't be able to help but hug me."

"Yeah…"

"I'll be your cuddle bunny."

"You'll be my cuddle bookworm, don't go mixing up those images shorty."

Levy giggled as she tightened her hold on him and snuggled her cheek into his chest. "I'll be your cuddle bookworm."

"Yeah…" Gajeel snorted at he placed a hand on the back of Levy's neck and awkwardly leaned down to give her a kiss on the crown of her head.

Levy smiled knowingly as she tightened her grip on him further. "There isn't a need to rush… I don't want you to scare away…"

"Yeah…"

Slowly he raised a hand to pat her on the small of her back before he dropped the appendage back down to his side while still keeping his other hand on the back of her neck.

It wasn't yet a hug… but it was a start.

And making this last forever… like Gajeel so very much wanted to do despite their unprecedented beginnings…

Was a lot harder than you would think.

* * *

Back from vacation, have wanted to post this since before I left. I hope you guys like it!


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